Hundreds of people mingled, danced, dined, and shopped with marketplace vendors during Brownsville’s First Friday celebration in honor of Dia De Los Muertos.

The city’s Market Square was packed – and that’s what officials are hoping will happen with the rest of downtown in the coming years after its master plan is enacted. 

For the past five months, the city of Brownsville has been laying the foundation for its massive overhaul of the urban core, known as the Brownsville Downtown Renaissance Master Plan. 

The goal is to outline a land-use roadmap spanning International Boulevard to the south, Palm Boulevard to the north, Mexico Boulevard to the west, and Interstate 69 to the east — guiding the city’s urban core over the next decade and beyond.